If I played Sword Art Online
by Milye6
Summary: Have you ever wonder how your life would be if you're one of the ten thousand players stuck in a death game called Sword Art Online? This story is about two sisters who want to play that very game, and they managed to get two nerve gears and two game cards with the help of their brother. When they logged on to the game to found out that they are trapped, what will they do?
1. Prologue

**Hello, here is a story of two sisters who are trapped in the game of Sword Art Online (SAO)! This is just the prologue, before they go into the game. Enjoy and wait for the First Chapter to come out! I do not own Sword Art Online.**

Prologue

As my siblings and I sat in our working desks one night doing our own usual stuff, my brother playing his games while chatting with his friends on Skype, my little sister singing, writing, and drawing her own things, and me reading books on the internet. We were doing own stuff until my brother shouted at his friends. "WHAT!" my sister and I jumped and stared at our brother. "Sword Art Online is finally out!? I have to hurry and get that game; you guys will be getting that game too right?" My sister and I looked at each other with a questioning look in our eyes. "Hey, what's 'Sword Art Online'?" I asked when my brother took off his head phones. "Um… It's a game that you have to put on a Nerve gear, something like a helmet, and you sleep while playing in a virtual world. In Sword Art Online, there is this gigantic floating castle with one hundred floors and the game's goal is to get to the top floor." My brother explained. "Cool! I want to play it!" My sister exclaimed. "There are only ten thousand of those in the world, so it'll be very hard to get them. I'll try to get it through," my brother replied, determined.

After that conversation, we asked our parents if we can get the game, and they said that we can get the game if we also work hard in our school work. We also told our aunty in America to help us get one if possible when she asked us what we want when she comes back. My brother worked hard on the computer to see if he can find one online. We also saved our allowances so we can buy the game with our own money.

Finally, the day came, and all of our hard work paid off. My brother managed to find one online and we spent all of our allowance to get it. Our Aunty also managed to find one as well, giving it to use as a gift. But we only have two, and there are three of us. Naturally, my brother and I got to have it, being the older ones and all, and my sister was also underage. She was angry and pissed, saying it was not fair and that she also spent all of her money to get that nerve gear. I said that I would share with her and she finally calmed down, though still pouting.

We took some time designing our avatar, my sister and I kept arguing how to make our avatar. We decided to name our avatar near our real name, so we will know who is who, and since the game is made in Japan, we searched some Japanese names as well. When our avatar finished, the day for the tutorial also came. Our brother said that if he wasn't using the nerve gear, we can use it, and he happened to be in a soccer game during that day.

My sister and I decided to play the game together while our brother is in the soccer game. We did all the things we need to do before playing the game; going to the bathroom, drinking some water, eating a snack, etc. We lay in our beds, side by side, put on our nerve gears, and said at the same time, "Link Start."


	2. Trap!

**Hello my Readers, Here is the first chapter of the story! It's pretty long... hope you guys like it! I do not own Sword Art Online, I only own my OCs.**

My sister, Kinia, and I walked down the path on our way back to our house one the 22ed floor from the long day of hunting. Two years already passed, I thought thinking back, and I bet he's still angry about not being able to play the game. I could never forget that day. When we got back to our house and finished organizing our items and ate some food, I got bored so I asked, "Hey, Kin, do you remember that day when we got stuck in here?"

"Why did you suddenly ask that, Emi? Of course I remembered that day, you looked as white as paper then, and I thought you were going to faint!" She teased.

"Don't say that, at least I didn't faint and fell, you fell on your knees!" I retorted.

"Looking back, it's all thanks to me we are part of the clearing group," she replied, putting her hands on her hips, "You don't even dare to go out of town."

I raised my hands, surrendering, "I have to admit that you're the one who got us to the clearing group, but you were frightened when you heard the news as well, so don't blame me, and you could've died if I haven't saved you back then."

We stood glaring at each other for a while, and then laughed. "I guess you're right, we both were pretty scared that day."

* * *

(Two years ago)

I appeared in the Town of Beginnings in my avatar form; green eyes with red hair tied into a pony tail, and with the simple armor every beginner get when they logged in. A shining light appeared to my right and died away, leaving my sister, Kinia, her avatar name, standing. She has navy blue eyes with navy blue hair tied to the side of her head so that hair is on her shoulders. She also has the beginning armor and sword on too. It felt strange to have a little sister about the same height as me, but this is a game. We looked at each other and started to walk around the city together, looking around. We jumped from shop to shop looking at things as we go, and walked out of town to start training like how we play Pokémon on a DS.

We trained, commented each other on the way, until we got tired. We ran back to town racing to see who's faster in a virtual world and bought some healing potions from a shop with the money we earned. When we decided to rent a room in an inn to log out, bells started to ring and a bright blue light started to shin around us.

"What?" I gasped, confused, as I felt dizzy. I suddenly appeared in the place where I first appeared in, my sister beside me.

"What's happening?" asked Kinia, looking as confused as I felt.

"I don't know either," I relied, shaking my head. Around us appeared a crowed of players, probably the ten thousand people who got the game. They looked confused and started speaking some Japanese from time to time. Luckily I took Japanese class in school so I could understand some of what they are saying.

"What's happening?"

"Can we log out now?"

"Can't they take care of it quick-?"

Wait, WHAT?! I stopped listening and opened a window. I can't be hearing things. Maybe I just heard wrong or I didn't understand it correctly. I pressed on to the options button and scrolled down to the log out button… I gasped, it's not there! Kinia happened to hear me gasp and turned to me. "What's wrong Emi?"

"K-kin, the l-log o-out b-button i-is n-not there…" I quivered.

"No way…" she trailed off, looking at her window to see the log our button missing. I couldn't believe my eyes, how can we get out without the log out button?

Before I can think anymore, someone from the crowd yelled, "Ah… look up!" I knew Kinia couldn't understand Japanese, so I looked up and saw the sky turning red, and poked Kinia to do the same. I heard her gasped as she looked, and I if I strain my eyes, I can see red words on the sky, repeating each other. One says… "Warning" and the other says "System Announcement". I felt Kinia relax a little bit, and I bet she saw the words as well. I was thankful that you do not need glasses in the virtual world and that my eyes are good.

But then, something creepy and disgusting happened. Red goo started oozing out of the sky. What happened was so strange; I couldn't process anything but the word "ew…" and shiver. My sister looked at me with eyes full of understanding and shivered as well. The goo moved and shaped itself into a hooded person who looked like a giant. And even creepier, there was no face in the hood. I shivered again with my sister. People started whispering to each other again, but I didn't bother to listen carefully to their conversation. I was too grossed out to do so.

But then, the invisible hooded figure started to move. No matter how gross that thing is, I couldn't take my eyes or ears off of it.

"Players, I welcome you all to my world," the thing said. I would never forget that sentence. It began my life in this world. It began everything. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."

My sister nudged me. "Hey, Emi, what's that thing saying?" I translated for her; at least, I translated what I understood for her. All the other players seemed shocked to hear that name, Kaya something or other. I can never remember his full name. Too much complicated Japanese to remember and I started to wish I worked harder in Japanese class.

"I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the log out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system," continued the thing who claimed to be Kaya something or other, "Until you get to the top of the castle, you cannot log out of your own free will," I stopped listening for a while to translate for Kinia, then continued to listen"… also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If things are attempted…" Kaya something or other trailed off.

Silence. I tried not to think about it, but I just can't help but think about the possibilities, and I don't like the possibilities. I translated what he said to Kinia before she poked me again the way I understand it, and when I finished, she too also fell silent.

"The signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and all of your basic functions."

I froze, and Kinia poked me again. I didn't want to translate for her, afraid of scaring her and afraid that I heard or understood wrong, but she won't stop poking me until I told her. I looked around to see if a heard wrong, but everyone's reaction is the same, confused like they too don't believe what they just heard. So I told her what that hooded thing said. I thought about my family and friends, how they would react in this situation, and how much school work I'm going to have to make up if this keeps up. This is not going to be pretty.

Don't think about it… don't think about it… don't think about it, I thought. Then, Kaya something or - you know what? I'm just going call that thing Kaya. Ok, then Kaya explained how the Nerve Gear is going to kill us, "To be a little more specific, disconnection from the outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to: unlock, dismantle, or destroy the Nerve Gear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass-media in the outside world. On that not, there have been several cases where the relative or friends have ignored the warnings…" I stopped listening. I just couldn't take it; I've already guessed what Kaya was going to say and I don't want to hear it. My sister started to nudge me with curiosity in her eyes, wondering what made me so pale. I told her, choking on my words when I saw that Kinia fell on her knees.

All in a sudden, people around us started to shout and yell, as if they are arguing about something. I strained my ears to understand what they are angry about.

"What are you saying? Beat the game? You want use to play around in a situation like this!?" called a person. I completely agree with him.

"This isn't a game anymore! But I ask all of you to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality… From now on, any form of revival is the game will no longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. And at the same time, your brain will be destroyed by the Nerve Gear."

I shook so hard that I thought I might not be able to stand, but I managed to stay on my feet. I kneeled down and told Kinia what Kaya just said, and she gasped while she widens her eyes. I understood her perfectly, I myself is afraid of death as well. I looked up; this is no longer a game, but a death game.

I helped my poor sister up and prepared to take her to the inn when Kaya (man, this thing really likes to talk and scare people) started to talk again, he said that when we beat the game, we can all log out. "Then I will show you evidence that this is the only reality. In you inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."

I hesitated before opening my window, as if afraid there is an atomic bomb inside, and motioned Kinia to do the same. I looked inside the items box and found an item called hand mirror. I took it out and looked at my avatar's reflection and glanced at Kinia. She was also staring at herself. Then suddenly, white light appeared and surrounded everyone including myself and then, in the blink of an eye, it's gone.

I was confused at first, but then I noticed all the people around me looked different and I looked at my sister. She turned shorter looked like her original self in the real world, with short black hair and black eyes, then a thought hit me. I looked at the mirror again and I see my original self again, no more red hair and green eyes, but with short black hair and black eyes like my sister, and with viens… sigh. But that is the least of my problems, and it looks like Mr. Talkative is about to continue his speech.

"You will all mostly be wondering, 'why.' Why am I – the creator of the Nerve Gear and SAO, Kayaba something or other (I couldn't catch his full name, but at least I know his last name) – doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? (And some other questions) … (He says some other crap to make his speech sound important, though I doubt it is)The reason is because… this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the Nerve Gear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized…. Now I have finished the official tutorial for SAO, players – I wish you luck." And with that the red sky and disgusting hood disappeared.

My first thought after Kayaba disappeared is relief. Finally, that talkative thing that likes to scare people is finally gone… wait… is he a person or a thing? Oh well, anyway… apparently all the other people thought differently. They screamed and shout and let it all out… well yeah, you get the idea. I decided to tell Kinia all of what happened in the inn.

As I walked her back to the inn, I saw a boy and a man in the ally talking. The boy looked nervous for some reason and then he started to walk away. The man called and the boy turned, and they separated. Strange.

I took Kinia back to the inn and told her what happened when Mr. Talkative disappeared. She was silent at first, until I found out that she was asleep. I decided to sleep as well. It was a long day.

**Is it ok? please make reviews to help me improve my story. :3**


	3. Meeting

**Hi again readers! Here is the 2nd chapter for my story! It is still the flash back, so don't get confused! Please post some reviews so I can improve my story! Oh, and I also used some quotes from the light novel version of Sword Art Online, so some credit for the book! I do not own SAO, only my OCs.**

* * *

After a week of gloom and depression, Kinia suddenly brightened up like she was never gloomy at all. "Come on, Emi, let's go out there and train!" wined Kinia.

"No! I don't want to risk my life and get killed by a monster!"

"It's ok! I can protect you!"

"But you might get killed too!"

"Come on! We won't get any better by just sitting on our butts! We need to out there to train and survive!"

"When did you get so reasonable? Fine, we'll go out but we need to buy some equipment, like maps, potions, and armor before we go."

"Yay, hurry up and let's go!"

We came out of our room in the inn and walked around to buy some equipment with the money we have left. We bought a map of the first floor, some – I mean a lot of healing potions, and that's about it. We agreed to buy better weapons and armor in the next town. Finally, we walked out of the Town of Beginnings… to tell the truth, Kinia kind of dragged me out of town, but the main point is that we got out of the safe zone.

As we walked down the path on our way to the next town, we met our first monster. It looked kind of like a boar, but that didn't matter, all it matters is that it is a monster. Once Kinia spotted the boar, she charged at it like a mad man and slashed at it like a mad man. I almost forgot that Kinia can be quite violent sometimes and made a mental note to be careful around her when she's in battle mode. Ever since that monster she killed, she looked for more monsters to kill. She charged at every single monster that came into her line of sight, which is pretty far, until her sword broke.

"Hey, Emi, can I use your sword since you're not using it, please?" Kinia asked innocently with her big black eyes wide. I sighed and made a face palm, "If you're going to charge at monsters with or without a weapon, I suppose I have no choice but to give my sword to you." "Thank you Emi!"

At last, we came to the next town. With the money Kinia earned from killing monsters (like a mad man), we bought a new sword for her and a bow with some arrows for me (knowing that I would get hurt if I get to close to Kinia in battle). We also bought some refreshments to rest and heal.

A month later, Kinia and I trained in the dungeon on the first floor to get stronger. Kinia slashed multiple monsters up close while I support her from behind, finishing up the monsters. Of course, I was against going into the dungeon, but Kinia got reasonable again so we went there anyway. We leveled up and managed to survive, rising up to a high level comparing to other players.

One day we got a message from another player, and unfortunately it is all in Japanese (but that is to be expected, for most of the people here are Japanese). I tried to read it the best I can, and translating it for Kinia as well. It said to meet at a town called Tolbana on the 4 pm for the first floor boss strategy conference. Kinia wanted to go; she was confident with her skills and wants to see how a "boss" would look like. I was reluctant, but since it is just a meeting, so I guess it is ok to go.

When we arrived at the meeting place, there are already some players there sitting in the area. We looked at each other and sat down. For once, Kinia was quiet. I scanned the meeting place, and found out that we were the only girls here, not counting the girl with the whiskers, so we caught a lot of attention. I shrank in my seat and tried to hide my face with my hair, and ironically Kinia just sat up straighter.

Then two new comers came, another boy and a person with a cape, and I sighed because I can tell that the person with the cape is a girl, by the way she walk and sat down. Now there are four girls here. I glanced at the boy with a gray coat, and I felt that I've seen him before, wait a sec, isn't he the boy who left the man that other day, I thought, recalling the day when the ten thousand plays was trapped in this death game.

I looked from the boy to the girl with the cape, thinking, are they together…? I shook my head, stop thinking all girly, and scolded myself. I looked to the center of the area, where a guy with long, curly blue hair – wait, blue hair? "No fair, why does he get to have blue hair when I can't," Kinia pouted. The blue haired guy looked up as if he heard Kinia complained and clapped his hands.

"Ok! Now then, it's five minutes late, but let's start! Everyone, a bit more to the front… there, come three more steps closer!"

Even though he said so, Kinia and I didn't move from our seat in the back. The man continued his speech, "Today, thank you for coming to my call! Some people here know me, but I will again introduce myself! I am Diabel and my profession is Knight!"

The people around him started to clap and whistle and called out some stuff and all I can catch is the word "Hero". I used this time to translate my still pouting sister. Then the man who called himself Diabel continued his speech, "Well then, about the reason I gathered you top players who are active on the very front lines, I don't think I need to say it…" Then don't say it, I thought, using this pause to translate for my sister.

"Today, my party found the stairs going to the top most floor of that tower. That is, tomorrow – or, at latest, the day after tomorrow – we will reach it: the first floor's boss room!" People starting talking again and I translated, thinking about what the man said. His party found the stairs that led to the boss, so? Kinia and I found the stairs a long time ago; we just didn't know it led up to the boss.

"One month. Coming this far took one month. Even so, we have to show that this death game can be cleared to everyone waiting at the Starting City. That is the obligation of us top players here! Isn't that right everyone?" People started cheering and clapping again. I once again used this time to translate for my sister, thinking that I should try to teach her some Japanese later.

"Wait a minute, Knight-san," said a deep voice, "before that, there is one thing that must be cleared up; otherwise I cannot join you."

"Opinions are certainly very welcome. But if you are going to speak, you should tell us your name." replied Diabel.

"Hum…" The person walked up and as I translated, I saw how the person looked, with spiky hair that looked like Bowser's shell from the Mario Bros. "I am Kibaou" I translated – you know what? I'm not going to say this again, me always translating and all. I'm sure all of you know I'll translate for my dear sister whenever there is a message, speech, and that kind of stuff. So anyway, I first impression from that guy is mean, I mean, he looked like the kind of guy who would be dangerous to be around with, like he might bully you or something, with that big sword and spiky hair.

"In there, about 5 or 10 people need to apologize," Kibaou said in a threatening tone. Diabel asked a question with both hands raised, but I couldn't catch what he said.

"Ha, isn't it obvious? To the 2000 now dead people, those guys had monopoly on everything, and 2000 people died in one month! Isn't that right?!" Kibaou spat. At first I don't understand, who had monopoly on everything? And wait, 2000 people already died? Kinia's reaction to this was not surprising; she was also confused, for she knows just about the same as I do.

"Kibaou-san, your 'those guys' are the original beta testers, right?" Diabel asked with a stern expression, I didn't know that happy-go-lucky guy can give off those kinds of expressions.

"Obviously," answered Kibaou.

Now I'm really confused, so confused that I can only watch on and try to find some answers. Questions swam in my head; what are 'beta testers'? Why did they monopoly everything? What the heck are those guys talking about? Kinia seems to be even more confused than me, which is to be expected since she is only ten years old.

Kibaou continued his speech (man, a lot of people in this game really likes to talk), "Those beta testers, on the day this game started, dashed from the Starting City and disappeared. They left behind over 9000 people who don't know left from right… (He says some more bad things about the beta testers, whoever they are and I don't feel like translating them)… I want them to kneel down at once, to this party members their lives depend on. That's all I want to say!"

I looked around the crowd to see if anyone would reply and yell "That's crazy!" or something like that, but they were all silent. I guess that means what that dude said was true, 2000 people really died and these beta testers people did do those things. But I noticed that the boy with black hair and black eyes with a gray coat was tense, as if he's angry, nervous or something like that. That action raised my suspicion, maybe he knows what's going on, and he may know some of the beta testers.

"May I speak?" another guy asked. When I turned my head to see the new speaker, he looked like a professional wrestler or boxer. His weapon is a battle ax, and he looked really big and buff, and very tall too. He also has a bald head with dark skin. He looked African American… maybe he is.

"My name is Agil. Kibaou-san, what you wanted to say is that many beginners died because original beta testers did not take care of them, and you want them to accept that responsibility and apologize, isn't that right?"

"T-that's right. If they did not leave us behind, 2000 people would have not died! However, they are not just any 2000 people; most of them were MMO top ranks or veterans! If those testers properly shared information, items, and money, then there would have boon 10 times the people here, no, by now we would have broken through the 2nd or 3rd floor!" (Man these people really like to complain and talk a lot, Kinia seemed to be bored to the bone.)

"When are we going to go fight the boss?" shouted Kinia, forgetting that these people don't understand English and that the people are having a heated argument about beta testers (I still don't know who they are, players who are good at playing games?)

Every single player in the meeting turned their eyes from the people on stage to Kinia. "What are you staring at?" she questioned. I did a palm face. Why do you _have _to shout out now?! I whispered to Kinia, "Um… Kin? You do know that these people are Japanese and that they don't know much English right?"

"So what, I'm bored, and aren't we supposed to be attacking the boss now?"

"Yeah, I know, but even if you disrupt their argument, they can't understand you because you speak English and not Japanese! Now they are staring at us, look!"

Kinia looked around but didn't seem to get the message, "That means that those people are listening," Kinia turned to the crowd and stood up. I happen to get a bad feeling about this. She looked around looking superior for a ten year old and walked down the stairs to the stage. I did another palm face. This is going to be embarrassing… Kinia is in acting mode.

When she got to the stage, she turned to the arguing people and said, "I know, I know, you guys are excited and all, but you guys need to listen to me. I am here to go attack the boss, not to listen you guys' jibber jabber. So why not just calm down and use your anger to attack the boss right? Use your energy to defeat the boss and everyone happy so let's go!"

Oh shoot, Kinia is acting like one of our teachers in the real world. Now we really will be laughed at. The crowd didn't let me down. Everyone one was silent at first, as if surprised. Then, they started laughing historically, like there was never an argument, I guess they thought it was funny to see a girl that is ten years old to be talking to two much older and taller people like she's the adult and that they are two kids arguing about nothing.

To save myself from further embarrassment, I hurried down the stairs and pulled Kinia away, who is still talking, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

I dragged Kinia, who started to complain that she's not finished yet, behind me and I started to apologize to the men. When I was about to apologize, Agil came up to me and bellowed in English, "Ha ha ha, is that little girl your sister miss?" "Yes…" "Take good care of that girl, she's cute," he turned to look at the crowd of confused and laughing people and said in Japanese, "That girl is right, she said that we're here to talk about fighting the boss, not arguing." He turned to Daibel, "you may continue."

I sighed gratefully and dragged Kinia, who was patted in the back and complemented while pouting, angry about being interrupted, back to our seat in the back.

"Then, it's a bit fast, bit I am thinking of starting the actual strategy meeting now! Anyway, if we don't make a raid party, we cannot split up or duties. Everyone, first make a party with friends or people near you!"

Kinia and I looked at each other and immediately joined into a party before looking around. When we finished and looked around, we found out that everyone get a full party of six members already except for the boy and the caped girl. Kinia saw the two as well and stomped up to them with me trailing behind, "Hey you two want to make a party with me and my sister?" I refrained myself from doing another palm face. When will she ever learn that people can't understand her? Fortunately, it seems that the caped girl seems to understand English and replied, "Ok." The boy seems to be confused and is trying hard to translate what Kinia just said. I translated for that boy the best I could, "She asked you if you want to join us." The boy looked up as if surprised and said ok in Japanese. I opened a window and sent a request to the girl and boy and they pressed the green button.

It was a good start, I've never spoke Japanese to anyone before so I don't know if I said it correctly, but I guess the boy can understand me. It was also the first time that Kinia and I talked to any other players but ourselves as a conversation. I looked at the side of my vision to see my new party member's names. The boy's name happens to be Kirito and the girl with the cape was called Asuna. I smiled at them as a greeting. I turned to see the blue haired guy give out jobs to each party and named the parties. He came to our party of four and told us to support group E.

When it looked like Kinia was about to complain, I covered her mouth but she still pulled me away, "That's not fair! I want to attack the boss, that's why I came to this meeting!" I looked up at Daibel with a small smile and pretended to translate for my sister, "She said that she will do best." Asuna looked at me suspiciously and Kirito said, "Understood. That's an important role, leave it to us." I glanced at Kirito gratefully, even with Kinia's death stare burning on my back.

I heard some people talking on our backs saying some stuff I couldn't quite catch, but Kirito and Asuna seems to be bothered by them. They talked a little and Kinia poked me to tell her what they talked about. I wasn't listening so I couldn't tell her. The group leaders for the major groups talked and stuff and the meeting was over. I glanced at Kirito and Asuna and it seems like they want to talk so to I said my good bye to them. Kinia was disappointed that she didn't get to fight any monsters today but she was tired so she also said good bye to them as well and we walked back to our room in the inn, preparing for the raid.


	4. The Raid

**Chapter 3!**

I woke with a shake, no, more than one shakes. I woke with Kinia shaking my head off. "Wake up!" Kinia yelled in my ears. "Ouch, don't yell in my ears Kin…," I mumbled, still drowsy from sleep.

"How can you still want to sleep? Today is the day for the First Floor Boss Raid! Come on!"

"Not so fast Kin, it's only the early morning, we have plenty of time-"

"No! I want to go there right now! I also want to know more about our new party members."

"But it's the early morning! Why would someone wake up so early in the morning to just wait? We meet at 10 am, and right now is 5 am, there's 5 hours left so let me sleep! I need my sleep!"

"Come on! Please?" Kinia begged with her big black eyes. I sighed; I can never win an argument with her. "Fine, we'll go out to make final preparations, but no more than that!" "Yay, come on let's go!" Kinia jumped off the bed and rushed out the door, leaving me behind in the dust. I sighed again and putted on my equipment, checked the items box to see what we'll need for the raid, and walked out of the door.

"You're so slow," wined Kinia, pulling me to one of tables. "Whatever, what do you want to eat?" "I want to eat… I don't know… what you're eating?" I sighed, Kinia will never change. "Ok then, we'll eat our usual stuff then." I called to one of the waitresses and ordered our food. When the food came, we ate quietly and quickly, and then got ready for our final preparation. When we finished shopping, it was 7 am, and Kinia got impatient, "Why is the clock so slow Emi?" "It was your fault that you woke up so early," I retorted, keeping my temper under control, "I guess we can train a little bit more to pass t –," before I finished my sentence, Kinia already said, "Ok!" and ran out the door. I just started to chase after her.

By the time Kinia was satisfied, it was already 10 am, the time for the meet. We hurried to the meeting place, afraid of being late. When we made it, everyone else was already there. We walked up to our other party members, Kirito and Asuna. I greeted them with a smile while Kinia said hi. I looked from Kirito to Asuna; they seemed to be pretty tense with each other, like they just finished a heated argument. I was curious about them, and Kinia seemed to be thinking about the same thing. Just when Kinia opened her mouth to ask a question, the Bowser shell haired guy, his name was Kibaou I think, stomped up to our party of four even harder than Kinia (which I thought was impossible) and said in a low voice, "Listen here, today you should stay in the back. You guys are merely here as support." Kinia moved behind me, I guess her habit of being shy took over, but that didn't last long. Her face turned red from anger and was about to retort when Kibaou continued talking, "Be obedient, you guys can take on the small fry ko-something mob that slips past my party as your enemy," and spat at the ground like an angry person. Kinia cracked her knuckles to make herself look tough.

"… What was that?" Asuna asked, looking frightened. "W-well, maybe he wants Solo players to not be so cocky…" Kirito answered, and looked like he got an idea. I had a feeling he was thinking about something different than what he just said to Asuna. Kinia was fuming at what Kibaou said, "Hump! Don't get so cocky yourself, you Bowser Head!" Of course, no one understood what she just called out, but Asuna and I. I couldn't help but giggle a little, and I found out that Asuna made a small smile for the first time I've seen her. Kirito seemed to be in a different world, so Kinia got even angrier. "Hey you, what's your name, pay attention to your teammates!" She waved her arms wildly at him. This time, I couldn't hold back, Kirito's expression was also priceless. Asuna also giggled a little, but our laugher seemed to have caught a lot of attention, more attention than just being a girl, so I quieted down. People stared at us, so Kinia wiped her head around and yelled, "What are you staring at!?" Kinia is just hilarious sometimes.

Just when I was going to burst out laughing again, the blue haired dude came up and said, "Laughing is good, a good start for our raid! Everyone, although it may be sudden… Thank you all, I am grateful that all forty – four of the party members have gathered, without a single missing person." Kinia tapped her foot impatiently, grumbling how people in this game really like to talk as everyone else cheered and clapped. "Everyone, what I want to say now is this!" Daibel raised his hands, "Let's win!" Everyone cheered and started to walk into the dungeon. "Finally," grumbled Kinia, who was forced to walk in the same paste as everyone else. "But can't we just run to the boss? We're just wasting time right now." "Be patient Kin, those people just want to enjoy their time, and we need to save our energy for the battle," I chided.

As we walked, Asuna asked us a question, "Hey, before coming here, did you all play other MMO games? Is that what's it is called?"

"Um, ah, yes, yes it is," Kirito answered timidly.

"What's a MMO game?" Kinia asked the question I was thinking. Kirito and Asuna looked at her, as if she was crazy.

"Err, a MMO game is a massively multiplayer online game, you know, like the game you're playing right now. Don't tell me you didn't know that," Kirito answered hesitantly.

"Oh," Kinia seemed satisfied with that answer but called out another question, "You seem to know a lot about games, like my brother, do you know what a beta tester is then?"

I didn't notice it at first, but it seems like Kirito needs Asuna to help him translate what Kinia just ask. When Asuna helped him translate, he stiffened, and then relaxed, "A beta tester is a person who tests a thing before it was allowed to be used for anyone in the world, and in this situation, a beta tester is a person who tested the game before anyone can use it."

"Oh, so they played the game before? Is that why that Bowser head was angry at them?"

"Yeah…"

Kinia nodded and quieted down. I thought I heard Kirito sighed, but I wasn't so sure. "You guys don't seem to know a lot about games, is this your first time playing a game?" Kirito asked.

"Nope, my sister and I played a lot of games before, but this is our first time playing this type a game," Kinia answered nonchalantly after I translated for her.

"I see…"

After that, we walked in silence, and then I remembered that Asuna was the one who started the conversation and tried my best to speak Japanese, "Um," I said, motioning to Asuna, "You were talking? Sorry for interrupting you…" I apologized for my sister's rudeness, finding the right words as I talked.

"No, it is ok," the hooded girl replied.

After two and a half hours, the raid finally came to the top floor, where the boss's room is supposed to be. So far there are no deaths, which is a good thing. The doors to the boss room were big, and it has a picture of a beast head on it. Kinia stared at the picture, eyes wide. Kirito glanced at the door and pulled our party together. "Can you guys listen for a while?" He asked and whispered, "Today, our opponents are the 'Ruin Kobold Sentinels', and even though they are not the boss, they are still strong enemies that spawn around it. I mentioned yesterday that a large portion of their head and body is covered and protected by metal armor, so aim for the neck." We all nodded at the same time. "I understand. Just aim for the throat, right," Asuna checked. "Exactly, just like they did after using 'Pole Axe's sword skills, we must immediately switch positions after I attack them to leave them open." We nodded again. Kinia and I looked at each other, in these kinds of situations; our brother would be the one who would instruct us what to do in the game. We sighed at the same time, feeling nostalgic. All of us turned to face the gigantic stone door, praying for success and that everyone would survive this battle. Daibel lined up our parties, silent, as if afraid to call out. He lifted his sword high and gave everyone a nod, and everyone raises their weapons and nodded in reply.

The doors open, slowly, seeing its size. Kinia got impatient again, and started to jump to see inside. Seeing her jumping and not wanting to catch any more attention, I lifted her up so she would stop. Her jaw dropped, murmuring the word 'big'. Seeing her like that, I prepared to see something big. When I can finally see the room, my jaw also dropped. The room itself was big, and seeing the room that big, I imagined how big the boss would be and I started to feel really scared, so scared that I took a step back. Unfortunately, Kinia felt me move and looked down, whispering in my ear, "You can put me down now Emi." I nodded and let her down.

The room was also filled with skulls of all sizes, and there was also a huge throne in the back of the room. I felt terrified and wanted to run away, afraid of what could be on the throne. I shivered from head to toe, and I took another step back. Kinia seemed to notice my action again and pulled on my hand, reassuring me that I'm not alone, and that we will be safe. The thought of dying hit my head, and I shook my head. Remember that your battling the minions, not the boss, let the stronger guys take care of the scary thing, I will defeat the minions, I told myself.

Before I can get any more afraid, Daibel raised his sword and swung it down. At that signal, all the players called a battle cry and charged into the room, with Kinia dragging me forward. All of the parties ran into positions with the help of the blue haired knight. When the boss came out, I almost ran away, but with Kinia clutching my arm (I thought my arm was going to break that time), I cannot do so. The boss called the 'Kobold Lord' roared and I almost jumped out of my virtual body in fright. I wonder how these people around me aren't afraid of that beast, no, monster, no, ah… I don't know! They didn't even waver one bit, just amazing.

The Kobold Lord raised his axe high and swung it down to the first group, and as if its attack was the signal, three monsters with armor and weapons jumped down. I guessed that the monsters that just jumped down are the minions, and looked less scary then the boss… but still scary. The group we were supposed to support charged at the Sentinel, I think that's what the minions were called. Kirito and Asuna looked at each other, and charged at the nearest one, followed by Kinia. I moved from my spot, shaking myself to do my job. I ran to a good position, grabbed an arrow, and prepared to shoot.

I decided that if I look at the boss again, I would lose my cool, so I kept my eyes at my party members. I admired Asuna's speed, she's so fast! I was glad that we have such strong people with us in this battle. I was even more relieved when I saw Kirito battle, he's also very strong! I even wondered why wasn't he fighting the horrifying boss if he's so strong, maybe that blue haired dude don't know that he's strong. I was also amazed how Kinia was able to keep up with them, despite the fact that we didn't have any guidance of some sort. Those three are just too amazing; I could never catch up to them.

I shook my head, concentrate Emi, I scolded myself, shoot the monster's neck when there is an opening to help. I let go of my arrow, letting it fly to my target like a blue comet. The arrow sank into the monster's neck, and it burst into polygons and disappeared. I let out my breath and took another one as I grab another arrow from my quiver. Looking up, I saw that my party members already ran off to the next monster. I ran around, looking for an opening to shoot.

Just when I was about to shoot again, the blue haired knight who was fighting the boss shouted, "We're on the second bar!" The sudden shout caused my fingers to slip and my arrow hit against the armor of the monster. I gritted my teeth and tried again, telling myself to concentrate harder and to not waste any more arrows, for more monsters jumped down. I changed my position to get another opening at the next monster, and pulled at my bow. I noticed Kirito was talking to the Bowser head guy just as I was about to shoot. What's he doing? I let go of my arrow, and luckily it shot the target. Kirito looked frustrated for a moment then confused. Kinia and Asuna attacked each minion in their path, and I have to run around a lot so I won't shoot my party mates. I heard a lot of cheering from the direction the boss was in as I grab my next arrow. Maybe they almost defeated the boss? I hope so. Just as I was about to shoot again, Kirito turned and looked at the direction the boss was in, and because of that I almost shot him. When I was going to apologize to him, the boss roared again and once again I almost jumped out of my skin, or virtual body, ah, whatever.

I took a risk and wiped my head around to look at the boss, trying my best to stand my ground. The people responsible for fighting the boss were doing a good job, so why does Kirito looked so worried? I looked back at Kirito, who eyes widened as if he realized something. He almost scared me just as much the boss scares me when he suddenly shouted, "T-this won't do, fall back! Retreat quickly!" I turned to the boss again, focusing on the players and not the monster itself to see their reaction, but they didn't seem to hear him. But instead, I just saw something horrible.

The Kobold Lord jumped and fell down, putting power into its weapon until it glowed, and using a sword skill (I think it was called horizontal, seeing that the weapon moved horizontally, but it turned into a full circle and not a line) and everyone in the front's health dropped to the yellow zone. I was stiff as I watched the horror scene. The people who got hit were stunned, they couldn't move, and all the people around them didn't move. Everything was frozen for a moment, and then as if someone pressed the play button (who was probably Kirito, since he yelled the word 'chasing' or something like that), Agil's group moved forward but they didn't make it, the boss moved and started to attack again. Diabel tried to counter attack, but failed. The Kobold Lord laughed an evil laugh (I'm not sure if it is a laugh, but it sounds like it, though I think that Kinia's evil laugh is much scarier) and slashed at Diabel again and again, three times in a row. The knight fell and his health was in the red zone. I was even stiffer then before as I watched Kirito run up to the fallen knight. Just as he got near the knight, the knight broke into polygons and disappeared like the monsters.

I heard cries everywhere, from every player in the room. It was my first time seeing someone died in front of my eyes, and so was my sister. I stood there, silent and shocked. Asuna, who was behind me with my sister, was also shocked. But the cries didn't last forever. Kirito suddenly turned to our party, and as if Asuna could read his mind, she said, "I'll go too. We're a team after all." "Yeah, we'll go defeat the boss for that blue haired dude," Kinia added. I nodded my head in agreement, for my tongue was numb so I couldn't speak, and I was so scared that I would have bitten my tongue off if I spoke. Kirito looked at the bunch of crying and panicking people like a bunch of trouble, but then Asuna and Kinia ran up, Asuna through off her cape, showing her long brown hair, and called all the crying people for attention, "Hey!" Kinia looked like she wants to say more, but Kirito added in before she could, "Everyone, back ten steps towards the exit! As long as the boss is not surrounded, it will not use its ranged attacks."

Amazingly, all of the players in the room obeyed Kirito's order. As the boss turned, Kirito signaled us to charge and said, "Asuna, Kinia, and Emi! This battle will be similar to the Sentinel's, move!" Asuna glanced at Kirito as she said, "Understood." I could only nod at the time and Kinia just shot Kirito a joking glare, as if to say, "How dare you command me around!" I ran in a different direction than my teammates, so I can get a good shot at the boss. The three of them worked like they have been working together for their whole life, not missing a beat. But then suddenly, Kirito stopped moving, and I guessed that he was stunned. I hurried and shot an arrow at the monster and got lucky shot hitting between its armor.

But that action didn't help at all. The boss mercilessly attacked the stunned Kirito and his health bar was reduced by 30 percent. I bit my lip, wishing I was able to do something to help. Asuna charged at the boss but for some reason, Kirito yelled, "Don't!" The monster roared and started to attack Asuna, but its attack was blocked by the African American dude, Agil. "You can drink your potion until it finishes, we'll support you. Damage dealers are the walls, this will not change," he told Kirito, smiling. "Sorry, I leave it to you."

I was glad that Agil came to save to day in time, but I have to do my job as well. As I pick up another arrow, Kinia was already doing some work. She slashed and slapped the boss like a mad man, no, demon. Yes, that's the best way to describe her right now, a demon. She even used her well known weapon called her elbow sometimes as she swung her sword. She scurried around the boss like an annoying pest and attack when the boss's attention turns away from her. Arrows flew from my bow one after another, hitting between the monster's armor like rain, but a deadly rain.

As the boss's health bar decrease until it was in the red zone, everything was fine. But then one of Agil's people tripped and got behind the boss, the boss then felt it was surrounded, so it started one of its big attacks. I held my breath, afraid for the people near the monster's safety, especially for my sister, Kinia. Kirito suddenly jumped out of nowhere and attacked the boss like his life depended on it, which it probably does. He flew like a bird to the boss, and sent a long slash at it. I couldn't clearly remember what happened after that, but I was sure that we defeated the monster, and that Kirito was the one who got the last attack.


	5. Beater or Beat?

**Chapter 4!**

At first, everyone was happy. We cheered and congratulated each other for surviving the boss battle, praising each other's work. Some people even did some silly dance. I smiled widely at my sister, who was also smiling and boasting about how she attacked the boss. But of course, even that didn't last.

Everyone's mood was ruined when one of Diabel's group members called out, "Why?! Why did you leave Diabel-san die?" I heard sounds of weeping from the group that Diabel commanded. Then I heard Kirito murmured, as if he couldn't believe what he just heard, "Let him die?"

"That's right! Because… because you knew the skills the boss used, didn't you? If you gave us that information from the start, Diabel wouldn't have died!"

After that thought was finished, people all over the room started to agree with the person who called out, mumbling some praises like, "Now that you mention it," and ,"Why? It wasn't even written in the strategy guide." Kinia looked around the room and looked like she was about to call something out until the Bowser head's, Kibaou's, group came up in front of Kirito and said, "I know! This guy, he's a beta tester! That is why, the boss' attack patterns, good hunting spots and quests, he knows all of them! He hid them despite knowing about them!" Luckily, one of the people from Agil's group defended Kirito, "Even so, the guide, it was handed out yesterday was written that it was only information on the boss's attack pattern during the beta period right? If he was really a beta tester, wouldn't his knowledge be the same as in the guide?"

"That is…" the group trailed off, then the group that was commanded by Diabel came up and added, "That strategy guide was a lie. Argo's information shop was selling lies. That person was a beta tester after all, there's no way she would have given us the truth for free."

I looked at Kirito nervously, wondering what he would do. Was he really a beta tester? Were those guys telling the truth, or are they just making things up to make their argument seem reasonable? Those type of questions swam in my head, and just when Asuna and Agil was about to defend him, he stepped forward and his personality changed, "Beta tester, was it? Don't lump me together with those amateurs."

"What was that?"

"Listen here and remember this, SAO's CBT, closed beta test, had a ridiculously low pass rate for the lottery draw. Out of the one thousand people, how many real MMO gamers do you think got selected? Most of them were just 'newbie' players who didn't even know methods of leveling properly. You guys here are much better than that lot."

Everyone fell silent once Kirito finished his thought. I was surprised, and for once Kinia seemed surprised as well. I guess nobody expected him to say that. The atmosphere changed from a heated argument to a cold, scary kind of atmosphere. Kirito continued talking with a sneer, "But I'm not like those guys. During the beta test, I reached floors that no one else could reach. I learned of the Katana Skills the boss used since I kept fighting mobs that used katana from a floor why higher. I know way more other things too, there's no way even that Argo person could even match me."

The guy who called Kirito a beta tester said in a hoarse voice, as if he needed water to drink, "That's no longer on the level of a beta tester, that's totally cheating, you are just a cheater!" People all around him started to agree with him, calling out things like cheater, cheating beta tester, etc. I looked around, afraid of doing anything and could only watch on, and unfortunately, Kinia seemed to be losing her cool and started tapping her feet. Suddenly (I just noticed that these people like to do things suddenly), Kirito mumbled something, "'Beater', that has a good ring to it." And then he started laughing and grinning (I still think Kinia's evil laugh is scarier and eviler), and then said in a clear voice, "Exactly, I am a 'Beater'. From no-" Kirito was cut off by Kinia's sudden outburst, "What? You're a vegetable? Why did you call yourself a vegetable?" Kirito coughed and ignored my little sister, "Anyway, from now on, plea-" Kirito was cut off again by Kinia, "Don't ignore me you beat, if that's what you want yourself to be called!" Kirito just continued without a pause, "Please do not lump me together with those former testers." Kirito seemed satisfied with his speech, despite the fact that Kinia kept interrupting him.

Kinia just got angry, and because this is the virtual world, her face was steaming, but before she could do anything, Kirito put on a long black coat and started to walk toward the door in the other side of the big room, "I'll go on and 'activate' the second floor's transfer gate. From the exit up there it will be a short walk to the district town, if you want to come along-" Kirito was once again interrupted by Kinia, "Blah, blah, blah~ Of course I want to come along, and you're not going to open the gate yourself! I want to be the first one to step into the second floor!" Everyone stared at Kinia for a second, but then Kirito continued like she's just the wind, "Be-" "HEY! Don't you dare ignore me! Even if you are a vegetable, you're still going to be eaten by the vegetarian monsters! There are vegetarian monsters right?" Kirito at last shot her a glare, "Be quiet and let me finish!" Kinia's response is to skip around and yell, "Blah, blah, blah, I can't understand you~" Kirito coughed again, in an irritated tone and continued, "Be prepared to be killed by any mob that comes along." "Don't worry, I won't be killed! I will rip them up like paper if they dare!" Kinia skipped around, which could've been cute if she wasn't making that evil face of hers.

All the players in the room just watched the battle of talking between Kirito and Kinia, like their watching the KinKiri show. They glared at each other, black eyes against black eyes, and then Kirito just casually walked without a word, "Yay! I won the glaring contest! HEY, wait! You lost so don't go on the second floor before I do!" Kinia yelled, shaking her fist, and running after him. I shook my head and ran after my sister, and happened to be near enough to hear her grumble, "Man! That beat headed vegetable man resembles _him_ so much, it's pissing me off!" I blinked, now that she mentioned it, Kirito really reminds me of _him_ as well, _him_ as in our brother in the real world.

By the time I got to the second floor, Kinia and Kirito was already arguing, though I don't know how they argue, now knowing what each other was saying and all, but they manage to make a heated battle. "Didn't I tell you NOT to follow me?!"

"How dare you come to the second floor before I do?"

"You're going to get killed by the monsters here! Leave!"

"You're going to pay for commanding ME around you Beating Beat head…" Kinia rambled some more names and insults at Kirito. I giggled a little, finding it funny that Kirito was just concerned for my sister while she's threatening to kill him. I wanted to continue to watch them argue about two different things, but it seems that the arguing people already noticed me.

"Don't just stand there Emi! Help me beat this beat up!"

"Hey Emi, tell your sister here to go back!"

Luckily, Asuna came to save me. She pushed Kinia and Kirito apart, pushed them to sit down and sat down as well. "And I also told you not to follow too," Kirito mumbled again. "You didn't say so. All that you said was you must be prepared to die if you wish to come," retorted Asuna. "Is that so, sorry." I walked away from the door and sat beside my sister, who is fuming. For a moment, all four of us just sat and stare at the scenery before us, trees, grass, hills, etc. Even Kinia calmed down after looking at the scenery for a while, cooling down.

After a while, Asuna whispered something to Kirito and he whispered back. They whisper to each other until Asuna stood up to go back. Then Kirito said something to all of us, including Kinia, "You guys will all be strong. Not only in your sword techniques, but you will have greater and more valuable strength. So, if one day someone you trust invites you to a guild, don't refuse. There's an absolute limit for solo players after all…" He trailed off, as if embarrassed to be giving advice to three girls. Asuna mumbled something to Kirito again, but I couldn't catch it.

When Asuna left, Kinia got up, "We'll stop this battle for now, beat, but the next time we meet, we will finish this." And with that, she walked back to the door, "Come on Emi, I want to go back now." I didn't follow her right after she finished, instead, I waited until she left and sighed a big and loud sigh. "I wonder when Kinia started bossing her big sister around." I wondered out loud, saying it in English so Kirito won't understand. But it seems that Kirito was smarter than I thought, he looked at me like he understood what I just said (I guess he could tell just by hearing my tone), "I've been wondering, how do you put up with a little sister like that?"

I shrugged, not knowing myself. Kirito gave me an expression I don't know how to describe, "You don't seem to talk much. You're pretty different from your sister even when you look alike." I shrugged again, "Different genes inherited," I stated in Japanese, like I don't care about the difference of my sister and I.

Kirito gave me another look as I watch some birds fly in the sky, "When is the last time you got angry?" He suddenly asked. I looked at him for a while, and then thought deeply, when _is_ the last time I got angry? I asked myself, and then gave a simple answer that I gave a lot, "I don't know." He suddenly sighed shaking his head, "Amazing," he mumbled. I just looked at him for a while then got up, preparing to go back and chase after my sister, "I need to go back now, and sorry for my sister's rudeness," I apologized and turned back to the door, running back to the first floor.


	6. Dual Blades

**Chapter 5!**

**Sorry that it is late! It's New Years so I'm busy and stuff... :P**

**Thank you for the reviews! I shall answer some of the questions on the reviews for my dear readers now! One of the reviews asked how does Kirito and Asuna understand my OCs when they speak English, well, Kirito doesn't understand what my OCs said and he needs Asuna to help him translate. Asuna was a hard working student in the real world (according to the light novel) and people learn English in school so she understands what they are saying. Another question asked how my OCs know the hooded girl is Asuna, well, in SAO, when you party with another player, their HP bar and name will appear under your HP bar so you can see the player who joined your party is named. My OCs made a party with Asuna and Kirito, so they know their names. I hope this clarified some misunderstanding and such. :3**

**Back to the story! BTW: After two years, Kinia learned how to speak and listen to Japanese, so don't get confused!**

(Back to present time)

Kinia and I walked in the dungeon of the 74th floor, hunting down monsters to train some of our skills to prepare for battling the boss of the floor. Kinia was the same height as she was 2 years ago, but instead of a simple cheap armor from the first floor, she wore a blue shirt, sky blue skirt with dark blue leggings underneath, brown boots, and a grey sheath with a shiny silver one-handed sword inside. She doesn't wear much armor because she claims that they slow her down, hard to move in, and uncomfortable. She would occasionally equip a small shield with a sharp point at the bottom on her when she feels like using her elbow like a weapon (you do not want to get hit by her elbow, I've got personal experience in the real world and in the virtual world, it was not pretty). I, too, also was the same height 2 years ago, and I've also changed my armor. I wore a dark green shirt with a brown coat, black pants, brown boots, and a bow with a quiver on my back. I also added a dagger on my waist so when a monster gets too near me for shooting, I would defend myself with a dagger. I also don't wear a lot of armor because I don't want to attract anything with the sound of armor and it would slow me down if I try to run away from something if I'm in danger. It would also be hard to shoot things with things on my arms.

We walked into the safe area in the dungeon to take a break from the day's hunting and to have lunch. Kinia ran to a spot on the floor to sit down and eat. I walked up to her and sat down beside her as I took out our lunch. We ate as we looked at each other's items to see what we got from the morning's hunting and traded when one wants what the other has. Our day was just the same as any other day for us before we saw Kirito and Asuna came in together to the safe zone. In fact, they were running into the safe zone. And that was when we were just about to leave to continue to hunt monsters. Once Kinia and I stepped out of the safe zone, Kirito and Asuna came in like a wrecking ball into the safe zone.

I found it suspicious that Kirito and Asuna were together, since they basically argued in every boss battle meeting, so I grabbed Kinia and pushed her into a corner to hide. "He-" Kinia's protests were muffled by my hand as I push her into our hiding spot. I put my finger to my lips to tell her to be quite and pointed to Kirito's and Asuna's direction and luckily she got the message and made an evil face as she kept quiet. As we peaked out of our hiding spot to spy on the new comers, they started laughing hysterically. Afraid to be already discovered, we sank into our hiding spot. After a while, Kirito and Asuna were still laughing, Kinia and I found out that they didn't found out yet so we continued to spy on them.

When we peaked out of our hiding spot and see Kirito and Asuna, they were eating something, sandwiches I think? They seemed like they were having fun, eating their things, and they seemed to be having the time of their lives. I narrowed my eyes thinking, they seemed to be scared out of their minds when they came rushing in, but then they started laughing at each other when they caught their breath, that's just weird, I wonder what did they see to make them run. I glanced to Kinia and she seemed to be suspicious of what is happening as well, so we continued to spy.

At first we thought we wasted our time spying on Kirito and Asuna when they just ate and chatted, but we were wrong. Just when we were about to leave and give the "couple" some privacy, some people came walking in. "Oh, Kirito! It's been a while!" said the man with a bandana. When we heard the call, we stopped our movements and continued to spy on the now group of people to see if anything interesting might happen.

"You still alive, Kline?" replied Kirito.

"You're as fouled mouthed as ever. Why are you of all people in a party…?" The man called Kline trailed off, with his eyes wide under his bandana when he saw Asuna. My sister and I rolled our eyes at that, why do people always acted so surprised to see one person? It's nothing to be surprised about.

"Ah, you've probably already met each other during the boss fights, but I'll introduce you two anyway. This guy is Klein from the guild 'Fuurinkazan', and this is Asuna from 'Knights of the Blood'."

As we watched from our hiding spot, Kirito introduced the two people, Asuna nodded lightly while Klein just stared at her, both eyes and mouth hanging open like an idiot. I rolled my eyes again.

"Hey, say something. Are you lagging?" Kirito jabbed Klein in the ribs, and as if it was his turn on button, Klein started introducing himself, "H-hello, I'm just a guy c-called Klein… Bachelor! Twenty-four!" I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from giggling. This is funny, I thought as I glanced at Kinia, who was also covering her mouth to stop her incoming giggling.

Kirito started to talk again, "Well, they're not bad people, if you ignore the leader's thuggish face."

This time it was Klein who attacked Kirito, but instead of jabbing, it was stomping on his foot. I winced; it must have hurt, looking at the force.

"How did this happen, Kirito?" Klein questioned with murderous intent. I pricked my ears, this is what I want to know, I thought. Kirito seemed to be lost for a moment, and then Asuna helped him reply, "Nice to meet you. We've decided to party with each other for a while. I hope we get along."

An idea popped into my mind as Asuna talked, and glanced at Kinia to see if she heard what Asuna said. Seeing her evil face, she must have gotten the same idea, maybe even worse. To see if my guess was correct, I turned my attention back to the group of people in the safe zone. Kirito looked shocked as Klein's party looked angry and depressed.

Then I heard footsteps coming into the safe zone. Asuna tensed at the sound and whispered something to Kirito, and I strained my ears to hear what she said, "Kirito-kun, it's 'The Army'!" I looked at my sister again only to see the same question in my mind reflected in her questioning eyes, were they running away from 'The Army' just now? I turned back to see twelve men march in two rows, and they all seemed to be tired.

The group that we were spying on backed to the wall behind them as the men marched to the other side of the wall. The man in the front of the two rows dismissed them and the men all collapsed. This seemed more like slavery then an army. I watched as the man in the front march up to Kirito and started to talk, "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Cobert of the Aincrad Liberation Force." I got a feeling I won't like this man when he talked. I looked at Kinia; she had her nose wrinkled as if she smelled something bad. And looking at how the man greeted Kirito, they don't seem to be the ones Kirito and Asuna was running away from.

Kirito didn't look happy when he introduced himself, "Kirito, Solo."

"Have you mapped the area ahead of here?"

"Yeah, I've mapped the area all the way up to the boss room."

"Hum, then I hope you would supply us with the mapping data."

Yup, I was right, I didn't like that man, sounding like he's the best and stuff, even though he must be around thirty, he sounded like one of my arrogant classmates who won't do his job because he thought he was too good to do it even thought I knew he was just being plain lazy.

Klein seemed outraged to hear that Colonel's request, "What? Supply you with it? You bastard, do you even know how hard mapping is?"

The Colonel raised one of his thick eyebrows at Klein, "We are fighting for the freedom of players like you. It is your duty to cooperate with us."

"Wait a second, how could you…"

"You, you bastard…" Asuna and Klein said at the same time, full of outrage, and then Kirito stopped them.

"It's okay; I was going to spread it around when I got back to the city anyway."

"Hey, you're being way too kind Kirito!"

"I don't have any plans to sell the maps for money."

Kirito then gave the map to the army dude, "Thank you for your cooperation."

I puffed my cheeks at the army dude's reply, not a single bit of gratitude. I really do not like this guy. Kirito called to the army guy, "Some advice from me, you're better off not attacking that boss."

"That is for me to decide."

"We checked out the boss room just a while ago. It's not something you can tackle with just anyone. Besides, your men all seem pretty tired as well."

I widened my eyes as I listened to Kirito's words, so that's what Kirito and Asuna had been running away from in the first place. I glanced at my sister to see her reaction. She was pouting and crossing her arms, as if disappointed that we weren't the ones to first to discover the boss on the current floor.

"… My men aren't such crybabies to be tired out by something like this! Get up you useless pieces of trash!"

The army people got up and started to march away again, I followed the exhausted men until the disappeared from my line of sight. I had a feeling something was going to happen, something bad.

"I wonder if they'll be okay…"

"They're not really foolish enough to go challenge the boss are they?"

"Should we take a quick look at what they're doing?"

And just at this moment when Kirito finished his question, Kinia jumped out of our hiding spot and shouted, "Hey, don't forget about me!" I sighed, getting up from our hiding spot, thinking that it's useless to hide anymore once they know that we're here. Kirito, Asuna, Klein and his party members stared at us, two girls coming out of our hiding spot in the safe zone. "What are you staring at?" asked Kinia in Japanese, "Did I say something wrong?" Kinia stomped up to the group as I sighed again, following her.

"WHEN WERE YOU GUYS THERE?" asked Kirito, eyes wide.

"HA! I've scared you beat head vegetable man! Anyway, you guys were saying that you're going to check on the army people, I'm going with you!" Kinia said with glee.

"No."

"A bad answer," Kinia made an evil smile, the evilest one yet, "Oh, if you don't let us go with you, I could that guy other there," she pointed to Klein, "what you two have been doing here," she eyed Kirito with a look of innocence, "My sister and I were just leaving this safe area when you two came running in, and we wanted to see what made you run so we hide…" She didn't have to finish her thought before Kirito's and Asuna's face got red. "You-you're kidding right?" Kirito asked shaking. I gave a look of pity at Kirito and Asuna, sorry that they are stuck in this kind of situation. Seeing my look, Kirito and Asuna found that Kinia was serious.

Klein looked at Kirito suspiciously, "What were you doing Kirito? And why was she call you a vegetable man?"

Kirito looked from one person to the next around him and quickly said, changing the topic, "I-I'll answer that question later, first let me introduce you guys to each other, even if you guys might have met during boss battles," he turned to Kinia and I, "This guy is Klein from the guild 'Fuurinkazan'," he turned to Klein who is still glaring at him, "These two are Kinia and Emi…" he glanced at us, "Are you guys in a guild?"

I shook my head and said, "No, we work as a party, two people are too less for a guild."

"Why didn't you join a guild?

I shrugged, "Nobody invited us and we like how we live right now. There's no need for a guild."

Kinia coughed to grab the group's attention, "Anyway, can we go see the b- no, the army people now?"

"R-right, let's hurry and go."

We hurried and ran through the floor, running up to the boss room. It took thirty minutes in total, including the time talking, running, and fighting monsters, to get to the top-floor. We didn't even meet with the army people yet. "Maybe they've already used their crystals to escape?" Klein said jokingly. I can't believe he's still in the mood to joke. I bit my lip, afraid of the worst situation possible. "Yeah right, Bandana head, like they would do that," Kinia said out our doubts and Klein looked hurt to be called names by Kinia. We hurried and walked faster down the pathway.

When we were halfway to the boss room, we heard a scream that must belong to the army people. I bit my lip again, worried for the tired men and started sprinting with the rest of the group. As we ran, Kirito and Asuna were the fastest runners followed by Kinia and me. Klein's group got further and further away as we ran, but I was too worried to care. Normally, if I ran too fast, I would slow down and wait for the other to catch up. But in this situation, I couldn't afford to slow down. We literally, virtually, flew across the floor as we ran. As we got closer to the boss room, we heard more screaming and metal clashing.

"No!" Asuna screamed as she ran faster, Kirito right behind her. I had to work hard to catch up to them and Kinia huffed beside me, "Those stupid people, attacking the boss without me." I didn't even bother to reply as was sprinted. As we near the door to the boss, we hurried and slowed down as sparks flew from our boots.

"Hey! Are you guys alright?" Kirito shouted as he leaned his body to look into the boss room. By looking at his face, I could tell it was not a pretty sight inside the room. I looked inside and gasped, wanting to run away again. I always get this feeling in every boss battle, wanting to run away. Blue fire was all over the floor, and in the middle of the fire stands a goat-like figure, a blue goat man in fact, it looks like a satyr from Greek mythology, except not all peaceful and nature loving, blue, have a snake for a tail, and its eyes are glowing. Actually, it was shining all over, and it breaths blue fire as well. It has a blue goat head and blue goat legs, but that didn't matter then, all it matters that it is the floor boss and that it is killing people. Kinia looked in the room with me and gasped. "I would have liked that goat if it wasn't killing people," she sighed regretfully, as if imagining becoming friends with that monster. I stared at her, remembering that she was born in the year of the goat, her constellation is Ares, which is also a goat, and her favorite animal is the goat. Her favorite color was also blue, which is also the color of the boss.

I watched as one of the army people get hit by the goat man's sword, making his health bar go into the red zone. "What are you doing? Use your teleport item!" shouted Kirito. "That doesn't work! T-the crystals aren't working!" the man shouted back. "Wha…" Kirito trailed off. I widened my eyes, not believing what I just heard, the crystals cannot work? How can that be? That never happened before, why now? "How can that…?" Asuna breathed in sharply. I understood perfectly, too perfectly how she felt. We cannot go and save them without having a risk of not coming back.

"What are you saying?! The word retreat does not exist for the Liberation Army! Fight, fight I tell you!" yelled another player, and I bet that was the Colonel dude.

"You bastard,"

"Stupid army freak," screamed Kirito and Kinia at the same time. "How could you let your people die like this? Even I know when to retreat!" added Kinia. I glanced at Kirito to ask what to do, but nothing came out of my mouth. His expression was even scarier than the boss's expression (and I have to admit, even Kinia never looked that angry), red with anger, teeth gritted, and fists held tightly. I thought he was going to explode in rage. During that time, Klein's group came, "Hey, what's happening?" Kirito made a quick explanation of the situation, and Klein's expression also got dark (but not as scary as Kirito's expression just a moment ago), "Isn't… isn't there anything we can do?"

"Of course there is something we can do" said Kinia, her expression just as scary as Kirito's (I take that back, her expression was scarier, much scarier than Kirito's, it's just her first time that angry). Before she could continue talking, the Colonel from the army managed to organize his group and shouted, "Charge!"

"No!" Kirito yelled, but they didn't seem to hear him. The goat man straightened up and roared before breathing blue fire at the army people. As the goat breathed fire, it swung its sword and hit one of the army people. A person flew into the air as it was hit, over the goat (which is pretty high, considering the height of the boss) and crashed at our feet. It was the Colonel. His health bar vanished and moved his mouth with a confused expression, but I couldn't make out his last words. With the sound effect I detest most, his body burst into polygons. Asuna gave a scream at this meaningless death. I choked, barely holding back a cry, this is just not right.

"No… no more… "

With those words, Asuna ran like the wind and charged at the boss, screaming, "NO!" "Asuna!" Kirito screamed, and he drew his sword and charged after her. "Eh, whatever!" Klein's group shouted and followed them. "Hey don't leave me here!" Kinia shouted and charged after them, me following right behind her. I hurried and ran to the army people to calm them down and to get them out of the room as Kinia, Klein, Kirito, and Asuna charge at the boss. I was once again amazed by their courage to charge at the boss even without the backup plan for using a teleport crystal. I could never do that, but I wanted to be of some use so I went to help the panicking army people to get them out of the way. I took a glance at the boss to see how my sister and the other people are doing. Asuna hit the boss while its attention was at the army people I'm trying to save, but it barely did any damage to the goat. The goat turned and swung its sword at Asuna, and luckily she dogged out of the way. But then, she was hit by a shock wave from the sword's force and knocked her down. Without hesitation, the goat swung down his sword at Asuna. I took a sharp breath, and turned back to the army people. I just couldn't stop myself, afraid of what might happen next.

"Asuna!" screamed Kirito as he ran between her and the boss. Deflecting the sword, he made it hit the ground beside Asuna. I sighed, but it was too early to be relaxed. "Get back!" Kirito shouted at Asuna as he prepared for the goat's next attack. I flinched as I watched Kirito get hit by the sword one after the other, and he never got the chance to counter attack. The sword hit him with so much force; I was amazed that he was still standing. I watched as Kirito's heath points decrease slowly after each hit even though he blocked them all.

I shook my head, I have to do my job, I can't spend all my time admiring other people, I have to do something, I thought to myself. "Everyone, get back to the wall nearest to you! Get far away from the boss as possible!" I shouted at the army people, helping the ones too weak to walk, "Use the healing potions!"

"What about the people fighting over there?"

"They'll be alright, and you can't help them at this state, here's a healing potion, they can fight better without having to worry about you people over here," I reassured the men, half talking to myself. I flinched when I heard a yell from Kirito, "Argh!" I took a risk and turned to the boss, barely holding back a cry to see that Kirito's health points decreased so much (I happen to be very good at holding back cries and screams, I just can't do those kind of stuff. I could only squeak. I wonder how people scream so much.). "Asuna, Klein, Kinia! Give me ten seconds!" Kirito shouted as he blocks one of the goat's attacks and jumped back, and Klein immediately took his place. "Don't command me around you beat head! But I can give you a whole hour if you want!" replied Kinia as she attacked the goat. Luckily she didn't hesitate, for she has her own mental rule to never kill or attack goats or sheep. Maybe she sees the goat she's attacking as a demon and not a goat so she attacked it. They seemed to be doing alright, even though they are having a harder time without Kirito with them, I turned back to the army people to prove my point, "See? They'll be alright, so focus on your own health for the moment."

"I'm done!" Kirito yelled at the people attacking the boss, making me turn back to see what he will do. When the people heard him, they gave their last attack at the boss and backed away, though Kinia was reluctant, she still did it, "Switch!"

Not missing a beat, he charged at the boss and attacked. He used his black sword to block the boss's attack and then took out a new sword, hitting a clean hit on the goat, reducing its health points noticeably. The goat roared and tried at attack Kirito again, but Kirito blocked his attack completely. Kirito then used his two swords, one black and one aqua, and slashed at the goat. His right and left hands worked together as if they have minds of their own, and he attacked the goat without a pause and not missing a beat. He hacked at the goat with speed I've never seen before, and he screamed as he attacked, and the goat screamed with him. As I watched him attack, my mind couldn't processes what was happening, and the other people watching him seemed to think the same. As the goat burst into polygons, Kirito also looked confused, as if he wasn't sure what was happening as well. When he put his two swords away, he fainted and Asuna immediately ran to him. I gasped at a realization, two swords? Can't people only use one sword? Why can he use two swords? I whack my slow brain to stop thinking. Now's not the time to think, I thought to myself as I scan the area for my sister. When I spotted her, I told the army people to go back home and ran to my sister. Apparently, she was also confused and angry, but not in the mood to boast or make fun of people.

"Kirito-kun! Kirito-kun!" Asuna screamed at Kirito's ear, trying to wake him up. When Kirito woke up with an "Ow…" Asuna hugged him tightly, "You idiot! Why?!"

"Don't hug me so tightly, you're going to make my HP disappear," Kirito said in a joking tone, how can he joke in this kind of situation? Asuna gave him a really angry expression and stuffed a health potion into his mouth. When Kirito finished drinking the potion, Klein came up and started to speak, "We've finished healing all the remaining army members, but Cobert and two of his men had already died…"

"Yeah, it's the first time since the sixty-seventh floor that someone died during a boss fight," replied Kirito.

That wasn't even a fight. That idiot Cobert, you can't do anything if you're dead…" Klein spat out, and then shook his head to change the topic, "But back to the topic, what the hell was that just then?"

"I really have to explain it to you?"

"Of course, I've never seen something like that before!"

Kirito looked around the room to find that everyone was looking at him, waiting for an answer, including Kinia. "It's an extra skill, Dual Blades." After that statement, everyone had an expression of amazement on their faces, including Kinia. Klein seemed to be very interested in the skill, "The conditions that have to be met are…?"

"I'd have told everyone if I knew that," Kirito shook his head has Klein sighed and muttered, "You're right…"

I took some time to process this information, and my super slow brain finally understood what they were talking about. So the two swords attack was possible because Kirito has this extra skill called Dual Blades, interesting.

"I'm disappointed Kirito, you didn't even tell me that you had such an awesome skill," complained Klein.

Kirito answered him with a shrug, "I would have told you if I knew the conditions for its appearance, but I really couldn't figure out how it happened," Kirito scratched his ear, "if it became known that I had such a rare skill, not only would people pester me for information, and it might attract other kind of problems too…"

Klein nodded, "Online gamers get jealous easily, I wouldn't since I'm an understanding guy, but there sure are plenty of envious people, not to mention," Klein smiled at Asuna, "well, just consider suffering as another way of training yourself, young Kirito."

"So, to you it's just someone else's problem?"

Klein patted him on the back and walked to the army people, "Hey, you guys, do you think you'll be able to make it back to HQ yourselves?"

One of them nodded at Klein's question.

"OK, tell your superiors what happened here today and that they shouldn't do something this stupid again."

"Yes, and, err… thank you."

"Thank him over there," Klein pointed at Kirito with his thumb. The army people got up shakily and bowed deeply to Kirito before going out of the room and teleporting away. When all of them teleported, Klein put his hands on his hips, "Well, let's see, we're going to continue onto the seventy-fifth floor and open the gate there. How about you? You're the man of the day, so do you want to do it?"

"No, I'll leave it to you, I'm totally wiped."

"If that's the case, be careful on your way back." With that Klein started to walk to the nest floor with his group and stopped at the door. "Hey, Kirito, you know when you jumped in to save those Army members…"

"What about it?"

"I was… well… really glade. That's all I have to say. See ya around sometime."

Kirito cocked his head when Klein gave him a thumbs-up and went to the next floor, so I guessed he was confused.

I stood quietly with my sister, a few meters away from Kirito and Asuna, but it seems that they have already forgotten of our existence and started to talk to each other.

"Hey, Asuna…"

"I was so scared… I didn't know what I'd do… If you had died…:

"What are you talking about? You were the one who charged in first," Kirito said softly and placed his hand on her shoulder and hugged her.

"Ahem!" Kinia coughed loudly and Kirito and Asuna jumped back, "please do your lovey dovey stuff elsewhere. Don't you see a twelve year old girl over here? You're giving a bad impression and example to a little girl over here beat head."

Kirito and Asuna looked at Kinia and me, their face bright red. I gave a small smile to them to show that we'll leave them in peace and herded Kinia to the door, "Come on Kin, let's leave them alone, and let's go home." For once Kinia didn't argue, but she gave an evil face to show Kirito that she could tell people what they were doing in the boss room.


	7. Ragout Rabbit

**I do not own SAO.**

* * *

As my sister and I walked on 22nd floor the next day, on our way to our morning hunt, I spotted something furry in the bushes beside the path. I motioned Kinia to stop and put my finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet. Kinia looked at me questioningly before turning where I was staring at, and then her eyes got wide. "No way," she whispered to my ear, "why is there a monster that is so cute?" I focused on the green fur ball, and the name "Ragout Rabbit" and its health bar appeared. Wait, "Ragout Rabbit"… I whack my brain to think… the name sounded familiar and I remembered it was something rare or something like that. I could never remember everything I learn. Kinia stared at the rabbit longingly, "I want to have it as a pet…" I nodded at her words, in the real world, we sisters are animal lovers and always long for every animal we see to become our pet, but that was impossible, for taking care of pets are a big responsibility and normally I'm the one taking care of them.

I stared at the rabbit, trying to remember what's so rare about it, and what came to mind is that it was the fastest monster in… something, floor? Or is it the whole Aincrad? I looked at my sister to ask her what we should do with the rabbit before it escapes, but she already ran off to it to catch it. I stared after her, watching her run after the green fur ball. She jumped and ran, closing on to the rabbit. With her outstretched arms, she grabbed the rabbit, which struggled against her grip, and crashed hard on to a tree, "Ah!" I winced and ran to my sister's side. Her health points decreased a little, but otherwise she's alright. She looked up to me and lifted up a bundle of green fur, her smile shining brightly, "Look Emi! I caught the fastest monster in this world!"

I smiled back at her, though Kinia can be quiet violent and scary, she can also be very cute. I helped her up and looked at the rabbit, which happen to be alright as well and is still struggling, and wondered what to do with it. "Hey Emi, can we make this rabbit into a familiar?" asked Kinia, stroking the rabbit even though it is scratching her, decreasing her health points little by little.

"I think you need to visit the rabbit a lot and feed it the food it likes to make it your familiar," I replied, scratching my head, "but only certain types of monsters can be made into a familiar, and I'm not sure if this is one of them."

"Oh… but the rabbit is cute, it should be tamable," stated Kinia, determined, "but even if it isn't, I'll still keep it."

"Being cute doesn't meet its tamable (like you, your cute but not tamable, I thought to myself) and how are you supposed to keep it if you can't tame it?" I retorted and sighed, "Let's ask Agil, maybe he knows if it is tamable or not."

"OK!" Kinia hurried and ran back to the path, carrying the rabbit with her, "Hurry Emi!"

"Wait!" I called after her, "how do you know if you can teleport it with you?" But Kinia was too excited to listen. "Ah! Whatever!" I sighed and chased after her.

Fortunately, Kinia can teleport while holding a monster. We walked towards Agil's shop on the 50th floor. And of course, Kinia was still hugging the green rabbit, which is still struggling, and Kinia didn't even notice. People stared at us as we walked on the street. I suppose that you can say that we gotten used to the staring, since we are "girls" who are "super rare" in the game, but I've always felt uncomfortable when people stare too much. Kinia would enjoy the attention she's getting, usually, but today she didn't even pay attention to the attention. She was already preoccupied by the green little fur ball. And unusually, we were getting even more attention than usual, I guess because Kinia got a monster in her arms, which is struggling and scratching her.

After a while, people started to stop staring and continued on with their conversations. I sighed in relief when people stopped staring; I've never liked much attention. When I walked pass a group of people with my sister, they were talking about yesterday's events. I didn't even bother to listen to their conversation, not like I have to anyway. "Hump, why do Beat head have to show off his special sword skill, I'm getting tired of everyone's talk about it," complained Kinia, snuggling against the rabbit.

"He had no choice, but I have to agree with you, these people are exaggerating too much about what happened," I replied, sighing.

When we stepped into Agil's shop, Agil happen to be in the second floor, or I suspected. I looked around the shop before going up the stairs to the second floor. When I opened the door to the second floor of Agil's shop, something came flying to my head and luckily I dodged it in time, but unluckily for the person who thrown it, it hit Kinia right in the face. "Ah!" screamed Kinia as she tumbled down the stairs, hugging the poor rabbit tightly.

I ran back down the stairs and Agil looked out from the door, "Are you gals alright?" Kinia got up and groaned, rubbing her head with one arm and hugging her rabbit on the other arm, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR AGIL?!" she yelled as I help her get up.

"Yell at that guy over here! He also tried to kill me!"

"WHO?" Kinia stormed up the stairs with her rabbit and pushed Agil out of the way, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU VEGE BEAT HEAD?! YOU WANNA DIE?!"

I sighed as I run back up the stairs to my angry sister's side, "Kinia, calm down!" Kinia glared at me. "Take a deep breath and count to three," I continued as she does as I instructed her to. She took a deep breath and sighed. "Ok, now, remember what we came here for?"

"Oh, right," she glared at Kirito, who was sitting on the rocking chair crossed leg, and he also seem to be in a bad mood, "we'll settle this later _Beat_."

I looked at Kirito, wondering what made him in a bad mood and then turned to our friend Agil, "Sorry for the late greetings, hi Agil, long time no see."

Agil stared at me, amazed, "You always amaze me, how do you calm down your sister so easily when other people get killed trying. Are you a beast tamer? Anyway, sorry for that guy's rudeness," he pointed behind him in Kirito's direction, "I was just joking then he tried to kill me. Can you tame that guy for me?" Kirito glared at Agil and through another tea cup at him.

I smiled at Agil, "No, I can't calm Kin down as easily as you think; she only suppressed her anger because we have important business with you today and she's too impatient to get sidetracked." I glance at Kirito, "but I might be able to tame Kirito," I continued, joining in Agil's joke. Kirito glared at me this time but didn't throw anything at me.

Kinia coughed to remind me the original purpose of coming here. I nodded and jumped straight back to the topic, "Anyway, speaking of taming, do you know if 'Ragout Rabbits' can become a familiar?" I asked, pointing at the green bundle of fur in Kinia's arms. Kirito and Agil looked at Kinia's arms at the same time when I pointed, and they gasped at the same time, "THAT'S A RAGOUT RABBIT?!"

"Yes, of course it is," replied Kinia bluntly, "I know it is the fastest monster and that it is super rare, but is it tamable or not?"

The only answer we got from the two men was their mouths hanging open and eyes bugging out, gapping like a fish at the green fur ball, "THAT'S A RAGOUT RABBIT?!" they asked again, as if they couldn't believe that they just heard.

"YES! NOW ANSWER MY QUESTION BEFORE I BEAT THE ANSWER OUT OF YOU!" Kinia commanded, losing her patience. Kirito shook his head in disbelief, "This is the second time I've seen this rabbit now." Agil looked from Kinia to me then back to Kinia, "Hey, Kinia, do you know what's so special about this super rare monster?"

"It's the fastest?"

"No, it is the most delicious ingredient in Aincrad, people hardly, almost never seen it before, and Kirito here only ate it once, without sharing with me," he glared at Kirito for a moment, "how about it, Kinia, trade this rabbit with me and-" But Agil never got to finish his offer.

"NEVER! I will never sell you this cute rabbit and I will never eat it, no matter how yummy it is, and you didn't answer my question yet, CAN IT BECOME A FAMILIAR?!" Kinia said forcefully, barely keeping her patience at bay, "Why do you think this cute bunny is still alive? Because I want to keep it, not eat it, if I want to eat it then I would have killed it and cooked it already."

"Cute?"

"Yes, of course it is cute."

"Come on! I've never heard of someone wanting to keep food as a pet!"

"Farmers do."

"But you can't breed them! These rabbits are meant to be eaten, if you don't eat them, what's the use of them?"

"I'll snuggle with them."

I put my hand in front of Agil to stop his next argument, "You can't change Kin's mind, and just answer her question." Agil looked at me unbelievably, "Fine, I'll tell you this, I've never heard of someone trying to be a familiar with a 'ragout rabbit', and it's here to be eaten, so I don't think that you can be familiars with it."

"What?" Kinia looked disappointingly at the floor, and then snuggled with the rabbit, "Then I'll just keep it at home, lock it up in my bedroom."

I looked at Kinia, "I don't think you can do that, and the rabbit could run away."

"Buzzy would never run away."

"Buzzy?!" Agil and Kirito asked at the same time.

"Yes, Buzzy, I named the bunny just now."

"Come on Kinia! You can't miss a chance like this, when you meet a ragout rabbit, you eat it. Follow Kirito's example," Agil pleaded.

"NO! I will not follow that beat head's example; it will turn me into one too."

"Kinia, I'm telling you, you won't regret eating the rabbit. Trust me. Put the rabbit into use, and it's just some data, you can't really keep it, maybe a familiar, but not some wild monster," Kirito advised Kinia with a serious look, he seemed to have forgotten his bad mood.

Kinia looked regretfully at the rabbit, which happen to still struggling, and then looked to me, "Are they telling the truth Emi?"

I nodded slowly, sad to have to make my little sister sad, "You can always have it in your heart Kin, and maybe you're doing it a favor if you eat it, so it won't be eaten by someone else."

"Ok…"

Agil imminently went into business mode, "So how about my of-"

"NO! I will not sell Buzzy! I will eat it if I cannot keep Buzzy, that way he will stay in my tummy, with me," Kinia interrupted.

"Now it's a he? Anyway, it's ok if you won't sell it, but at least give me a taste?"

"Um… Ok."

"Yes!" Agil pumped his fists, "Even though she's scarier than you, Kirito, she's much nicer than you."

"Hey!"

I smiled at Kinia, who is still looking sadly at her bunny, when Asuna came running in.


End file.
